I've only just realised that we have been in Germany for nearly five months now! I can't believe what a terrific and wild ride it's been. There has been a flurry of getting to know new friends and family, a new job for the Bloke and the kids are at a School that has good expectations of them (much to their horror - ha ha ha). Accordingly, I've been busy. We are all grappling with the language barrier and the current lack of daylight, but while it's been a challenging period of adjustment and re-adjustment for everyone, luckily none of us have completely splintered and demanded that it's time to go home.
Those of you who have known me long-term know that we had a major and traumatic event in our lives 19 years ago, that left me with no work, no studio, too much time and a huge hole in my life. If you didn't know me back then, you are probably thinking right now you are going to hear a broken tale of woe and despair. Actually, I had an absolute ball. Yes, it really sucked and I wouldn't wish what we went through on anyone but the best I could do after finding myself in that terrible place - that place that was never in the 'plan' - was to run. As cheesy as it sounds, there really was nowhere to go but up. Gloves off. Fuck it all. Lots of fist shaking at the sky. Screw you, life! ROAR. And like a kid with an angry rooster on her heels that is intent on flaying her buttocks, no encouragement was needed to go hard. Eventually, we landed in Melbourne and came down.
There was so much laughter in between the tears that the pain was tempered and healing took it's course. Life continued. We have some truly amazing people in our life. They know who they are. I have to say that I can never, literally, thank some of the people who helped balance out things with sublime, ridiculous and sometime downright awful contributions to my deranged output. I've never actually met the majority of them in the flesh (so to speak) but suffice to say I love them all dearly even if I am totally content if I never to cross paths with them in real life.
Back to the present, and we are settled in our new apartment; as unpacked and as settled as we are likely to get. I've finally got to the point where I need to decide what I am going to 'do' with myself before I start drawing on the walls. In my defence, most people I know with a creative bent go more than a bit potty when they don't have a creative outlet and too much time on their hands. Taking inspiration is rarely conscious, and personally I find the catalysts manifest the message, but they rarely run to my preferred schedule.
So this time thing. Yeah. This time around I've made a conscious effort to plan. Cautiously. To date, no sudden surprises or anything other than the usual run of the mill hiccups. To create traction I've started a distance education jewellery design course with the New York Institute of Art and Design, that should at least keep me moving forward - nothing like someone else's deadline!
What I have really been enjoying is documenting our experiences as we have been settling in here. It has been pretty difficult leaving my friends and family behind. A random snap on the way to our temporary apartment led to me searching out the local area for a green door and making a daily FB post of a green door. Do I really need to explain that one?
Anyhoo, here is a good group of them in one place. I ceased photographing our local doors, didn't want to upset our new neighbours! But I'm sure there will always be more as we meander along, and a story to go with it
+ Most doors are Hamburgerian, a couple are from Lüneburg. Oh, and there is one from Berlin.
++ Some liberties have been taken with the definition of the representation of 'green'.
+++ Mass upload means I can't crop the individual photos in-blog, so you may entertain yourselves with 'Spot the Door' in a few of the photos. (Alternatively, you may wish to select the photos with bus reflections in them to prove that you are not a robot.)
++++ If you really don't get the green door thing, ask me about it :)
Those of you who have known me long-term know that we had a major and traumatic event in our lives 19 years ago, that left me with no work, no studio, too much time and a huge hole in my life. If you didn't know me back then, you are probably thinking right now you are going to hear a broken tale of woe and despair. Actually, I had an absolute ball. Yes, it really sucked and I wouldn't wish what we went through on anyone but the best I could do after finding myself in that terrible place - that place that was never in the 'plan' - was to run. As cheesy as it sounds, there really was nowhere to go but up. Gloves off. Fuck it all. Lots of fist shaking at the sky. Screw you, life! ROAR. And like a kid with an angry rooster on her heels that is intent on flaying her buttocks, no encouragement was needed to go hard. Eventually, we landed in Melbourne and came down.
There was so much laughter in between the tears that the pain was tempered and healing took it's course. Life continued. We have some truly amazing people in our life. They know who they are. I have to say that I can never, literally, thank some of the people who helped balance out things with sublime, ridiculous and sometime downright awful contributions to my deranged output. I've never actually met the majority of them in the flesh (so to speak) but suffice to say I love them all dearly even if I am totally content if I never to cross paths with them in real life.
Back to the present, and we are settled in our new apartment; as unpacked and as settled as we are likely to get. I've finally got to the point where I need to decide what I am going to 'do' with myself before I start drawing on the walls. In my defence, most people I know with a creative bent go more than a bit potty when they don't have a creative outlet and too much time on their hands. Taking inspiration is rarely conscious, and personally I find the catalysts manifest the message, but they rarely run to my preferred schedule.
So this time thing. Yeah. This time around I've made a conscious effort to plan. Cautiously. To date, no sudden surprises or anything other than the usual run of the mill hiccups. To create traction I've started a distance education jewellery design course with the New York Institute of Art and Design, that should at least keep me moving forward - nothing like someone else's deadline!
What I have really been enjoying is documenting our experiences as we have been settling in here. It has been pretty difficult leaving my friends and family behind. A random snap on the way to our temporary apartment led to me searching out the local area for a green door and making a daily FB post of a green door. Do I really need to explain that one?
Anyhoo, here is a good group of them in one place. I ceased photographing our local doors, didn't want to upset our new neighbours! But I'm sure there will always be more as we meander along, and a story to go with it
+ Most doors are Hamburgerian, a couple are from Lüneburg. Oh, and there is one from Berlin.
++ Some liberties have been taken with the definition of the representation of 'green'.
+++ Mass upload means I can't crop the individual photos in-blog, so you may entertain yourselves with 'Spot the Door' in a few of the photos. (Alternatively, you may wish to select the photos with bus reflections in them to prove that you are not a robot.)
++++ If you really don't get the green door thing, ask me about it :)